MANAGERIAL DRIVERS OF CHINESE LABOUR LOYALTY IN INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Weina Zhu,Zhihui Zhang,Xiaodong Li,Yi Zhu,Ruochen Zeng

doi:10.3846/13923730.2017.1381644

Abstract

Organization performance is becoming ever more dependent on employee loyalty in the international construction projects. However, the improvement of construction labour loyalty on construction sites remains a largely neglected measure for reducing their turnover and improving their productivity. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively investigate the managerial drivers of labour loyalty, including macro-environment of the project host country, organizational living environment, job system, rewards, and communication, and to explore the significance of satisfaction as a mediating variable in the relationship between the managerial drivers and construction labour loyalty. First, hypotheses on the relationships between construction labour loyalty, satisfaction and the five managerial drivers were proposed. Second, structural equation modelling was adopted to test these hypotheses. Finally, the results demonstrated two types of influence paths: (1) macro-environment, job system and communication have significantly direct effects on construction labour loyalty, (2) mediated by satisfaction, organizational living environment and rewards offer positive indirect effects on construction labour loyalty. The first type of path serves as a long-term strategic orientation for improving labour loyalty. The second type of path is a tactic for short-term goals of labour loyalty enhancement. The research results can contribute to the body of knowledge of human resource management and the practice of enhancing labour productivity through improving construction labour loyalty in the context of international construction projects.

Highlights

The economic performance of organization, whatever their sector of activity, is becoming ever more dependent on the participation, commitment, and more generally, loyalty of their employees (Guillon, Cezanne 2014; Boltanski, Chiapello 1999)
Employee disloyalty, usually expressed in the way of labour turnover (Allen, Grisaffe 2001; Ineson, Berechet 2011), has often occurred in the international projects as a result of the industry’s highly hazardous and stressful job conditions, low pay, national culture diversity, and the transient nature of construction workers (Chih et al 2016; Liu et al 2016; Steele, Sodhi 2006), resulting in potential risks to international project performance in many ways including increasing cost to recruit, train and retain labour force, interrupting the workflow, and serious revenue loss when the required schedule is not met (Han et al 2008; Hinze et al 1985). These risks suggest that construction labour loyalty, generally both associated with employee productivity and turnover (Ling et al 2012; Allen, Grisaffe 2001; Ineson, Berechet 2011), needs to receive much more attention as it pertains to international construction projects
The research reported in this paper quantitatively examined the effects of five managerial drivers on labour loyalty in international construction projects and demonstrated the significance of satisfaction as a mediating variable in the relationship between the managerial drivers and construction labour loyalty

Summary

Introduction

The economic performance of organization, whatever their sector of activity, is becoming ever more dependent on the participation, commitment, and more generally, loyalty of their employees (Guillon, Cezanne 2014; Boltanski, Chiapello 1999). Employee disloyalty, usually expressed in the way of labour turnover (Allen, Grisaffe 2001; Ineson, Berechet 2011), has often occurred in the international projects as a result of the industry’s highly hazardous and stressful job conditions, low pay, national culture diversity, and the transient nature of construction workers (Chih et al 2016; Liu et al 2016; Steele, Sodhi 2006), resulting in potential risks to international project performance in many ways including increasing cost to recruit, train and retain labour force, interrupting the workflow, and serious revenue loss when the required schedule is not met (Han et al 2008; Hinze et al 1985). These risks suggest that construction labour loyalty, generally both associated with employee productivity and turnover (Ling et al 2012; Allen, Grisaffe 2001; Ineson, Berechet 2011), needs to receive much more attention as it pertains to international construction projects

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Conclusion